


Changes

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 13:33:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20743013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Jack gets sick, and is surprised that Alex doesn't want to look after him.





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> This is set during the Summer Ever After tour.

Something that Jack was pretty proud of was the fact that he hadn’t been sick on the road in a while. He’d had allergies and colds occasionally, but he hadn’t had the stomach flu or anything since they toured in 2013 for Don’t Panic. The last time he was sick, Alex had completely babied him. He watched movies with him, he snuggled him, brought him soup and tea, and generally made the experience less miserable.   
When he woke up now five years later feeling a bit worse for wear, he was surprised. He hadn’t felt this bad in a very long time. He figured that he had a fever, and that this wouldn’t go away as fast as he’d like for it to. But he realized the one silver lining was that Alex would probably do what he always did, making it all more tolerable. He slowly got out of his bunk and wrapped himself up in his blanket, since he had chills. When he got to the front lounge, he saw Zack playing a game, Rian doing something on his computer, and Alex had his guitar and a notepad with him on the couch, making Jack assume that Alex was working on a new song. Rian was the first to notice that Jack had walked in.  
“Hey man, you don’t look like yourself,” Rian observed, causing the other two to look up at Jack.  
“Yeah, I feel like shit, dude,” Jack replied in a raspy voice.  
“You haven’t been sick in years,” Alex pointed out.  
“I know, this sucks. I thought I felt a bit off yesterday, but I didn’t think this would happen,” Jack explained, coughing a bit.  
“You should get some rest, man. We have a show tonight, and it sounds like you have the flu,” Zack suggested.  
“Yeah, I’m going to take some medicine, then go to the back lounge to watch a movie, and try to warm myself up some,” Jack said, hoping Alex would want to join.  
“Sounds good, feel better, dude,” Alex said, starting to get back to his song. Jack was a bit thrown off that Alex didn’t immediately volunteer to hang out with him, but he shrugged it off. He knew that Alex was probably in the zone with whatever he was working on, so he tried not to take it personally. He went back with a bottle of water and set himself up, hoping that Alex would join him soon.  
\---------  
About an hour had passed, and Alex hadn’t come to the lounge at all. Jack was awake and watching his movie, when he started to notice that he felt a bit nauseous. He tried to calm himself down, like Alex would’ve done if he were there. After about five minutes of trying and failing, Jack realized that he must have the stomach flu, and wouldn’t be able to stop himself from getting sick. He quickly made his way to the bus bathroom and sat in front of the toilet. Immediately, he started getting sick. He almost hoped that Alex would hear him and come try to help him. This always made him feel better and made everything feel like it wasn’t as bad. After about ten minutes, he decided that he was done. If he said he wasn’t a bit hurt that Alex had never come to check on him, he’d be lying. Trying to push past that, he got up and cleaned himself up a bit. He walked back to the front to get himself some more water and saw the other three were still out there. Rian and Zack had headphones on now, but Alex was still working on his song.  
“What’re you doing out here, Jack?” Alex asked, writing something down on his notepad.  
“Getting some water. I just got sick,” Jack replied, grabbing a bottle from the fridge.  
“That sucks, dude. Oh, we’re going to be at the venue in thirty or forty minutes, so make sure you’re ready,” Alex said, strumming some chords on his guitar.  
“Okay, I will,” Jack replied, before walking back to the lounge. Jack knew that he was probably overreacting, but he felt like Alex just didn’t care. He seemed so lax about everything. In years past, Alex would do anything and everything to try and help, and now he was doing the exact opposite.   
Jack spent the rest of the drive to the venue feeling bummed about his current situation with Alex, and feeling miserable from his chills, aches, and stomach. When they finally got there, Jack wasn’t feeling any better mentally or physically, but he knew he just had to deal with it, since it was now work time. He put on some sweats and grabbed a pack of tissues before going up to the front of the bus.  
“We’ve got to go, it’s soundcheck time,” Rian stated, leading the four of them off of the bus, and to the backstage door of the venue. All of their instruments were already there, so they grabbed them and immediately started. Jack had forgotten how heavy his guitar could feel on him when he was under the weather but tried not to think about it too much. Once they were done, they all huddled up like usual.  
“That was pretty good, even though Jack was dying,” Zack joked, which Jack flipped him off for.  
“That’s good, guys. We should all get some food, but you’ve got to go rest up, Jack,” Rian instructed. Jack didn’t have the energy to argue, or even bring up what was bothering him, so he just complied and went to a green room. He got himself set up on the couch that was in there and drifted off quickly.  
\----------  
When Jack woke up, he didn’t feel any better. He assumed that there was still some time before the show, since no one tried to wake him up. He looked at the time and saw that it had been just over an hour. He figured that his bandmates were back, which made him want to see what they were doing. What he really wanted was to spend some time with Alex like they used to. He slowly got up and had a short coughing fit. Once he calmed himself down, he walked out of the green room that he was in. he walked a couple of doors down, then started to hear Alex’s voice. He smiled a little, then opened the door. Alex was on a FaceTime call with his wife, but Jack figured that he wouldn’t mind calling her back later.  
“Hey, Alex,” Jack finally said.  
“Oh, hey man, do you need something?” Alex asked, muting his FaceTime call.  
“I was hoping that the two of us could watch something together until we have to go on,” Jack suggested.  
“Um, well, I’m kind of in the middle of something,” Alex replied, gesturing to his phone, sounding a bit frustrated.  
“But, can that wait, right?” Jack asked, his voice cracking a bit.  
“No, I’m trying to talk to my wife right now. Why do you want to watch a movie so badly right now, anyway?” Alex asked back.  
“Last time that I was sick, you’d watch movies with me, keep me warm, and just help me feel better. What happened to that?” Jack asked, starting to feel upset.  
“What do you mean? That was years ago, we’re supposed to be grown-ups now. If you’re still stuck being immature, there’s nothing I can do to help. Being sick sucks at any age, and I’m sorry for you, but we’re in our thirties now, man. You can handle this, literally all you have to do is rest,” Alex exclaimed, sounding annoyed. Jack felt crushed, he couldn’t believe that his best friend had just said all of that. He’d always done a lot for Alex when he was under the weather, so he couldn’t believe Alex was acting like this.   
“Never mind. See you when we go on,” Jack said quietly, with a sneeze. He walked out of the room Alex was in and went back to his from earlier. He sat on the couch, and felt some tears start to form in his eyes. Being sick always made his emotions stronger, but this would’ve hurt him no matter what. He did everything he could to stop himself from crying, then curled back into his blanket.   
Once he was relatively calm, he started to realize that all of his symptoms felt worse than they had that morning. The last thing that he wanted to do was perform, but he knew that he had to. He spent his last half hour before call time on his phone, coughing a lot. When it was about to be showtime, he walked to the stage entrance, and saw everyone else tuning their instruments.  
“How’re you feeling, Jack?” Rian asked as Jack started to tune his guitar.  
“Shitty,” Jack replied flatly. Rian and the others let him be after that. A couple of minutes later, they all ran onstage and started their set. To say the show was miserable for Jack would’ve been an understatement. He exchanged banter with Alex like normal for the fans’ sake, but he felt terrible, and he hated talking to Alex like that as if nothing were wrong. When they were finally done with their set, Jack was relieved. He felt more tired and achy, and his sweat from playing was now making him shiver. When they got offstage, they all handed off their instruments to the crew members.  
“Not a bad show, you guys,” Zack said.  
“Yeah, for sure. How’re you feeling, Jack?” Rian asked his friend.  
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to the bus, I’ll see you guys whenever, I guess,” Jack said, glancing at Alex. He turned around, and quickly walked to the bus before his band could figure out what was up. As soon as he got on the bus, he had a coughing fit. He sat in the front lounge until he was calmed down, then walked back to the bunks.   
He knew that he should probably shower so he could rinse off his sweat from the show, but he felt too exhausted mentally and physically to do that. He changed into some comfier clothes, then got into his bunk. He pulled up his cover as far as it could go, and curled into a ball, desperate for warmth. He felt absolutely awful, and he was dreading the next few days, since he clearly wasn’t going to have anyone to help him feel less miserable.   
Jack’s thoughts started to spiral, distracting him from the sound of the bus door opening. Alex quietly walked onto the bus, hoping that Jack didn’t her him. He felt terrible about what had happened earlier, and he didn’t realize how much him being with Jack when he was unwell meant to him. He walked to the bunk area and heard a couple of sneezes come from Jack’s bunk. He bent down and pulled away the privacy curtain, to see Jack looking absolutely terrible, doing something on his phone.  
“Hey man,” Alex started.  
“What do you want? Shouldn’t you be out, literally anywhere else than here?” Jack said, sneezing again.  
“Jack, I’m sorry about earlier. I honestly didn’t realize how much me being with you in times like these meant to you. I figured that you only liked me taking care of you when we were younger, well, because we were younger. I didn’t think you’d want to have someone hovering over you,” Alex explained.  
“No, it’s the opposite. The attention is honestly kind of nice, and I always really appreciate everything you do, it helps me feel better and makes me less miserable. I don’t care how old we get, it’s really comforting for me and it genuinely helps,” Jack explained, coughing some.  
“I didn’t know all of that, and I’m really sorry, Jack. I shouldn’t have yelled at you earlier, either. Like, you were still sick, so I really shouldn’t have raised my voice, and said what I did. I really want to spend this night with you, doing whatever I can to make you feel better. There’s no place I’d rather be, and I love that we can have this evening together, if you let me,” Alex said, making Jack smile some.   
“That sounds great, I-“ Jack cut himself off with a coughing fit. Alex quickly helped him sit up and rubbed his back until the fit finally went away.   
“Man, you really don’t sound good. I’m sorry you feel so bad,” Alex said.  
“Yeah, I feel like shit. I’ve not been this sick in so so long. I want this to go away,” Jack whined.   
“I know you do. Why don’t we go out to the back lounge? I’ll set you up with pillows and blankets, and we can watch Home Alone, or anything else you want,” Alex suggested.  
“That would be great,” Jack replied. Alex helped Jack up, then grabbed the pillows and blankets from both of their bunks. Jack laid down on the couch, and Alex went into the kitchen. He came back with medicine and tea for Jack. He took everything and started his tea while Alex set the movie up. He pressed play, then sat on the couch with Jack. After a few minutes, Alex noticed that Jack was shivering.  
“Are you cold, man?” Alex asked, looking at his friend.  
“Yeah,” Jack said, his teeth chattering some. Alex scooted over next to Jack and pulled him into his arms.  
“Is this better?” Alex asked.  
“Much. But what if you catch this from being too close to me?” Jack asked, sounding concerned.  
“I always did when we were younger, why would now be any different?” Alex asked, making both of them laugh some.  
“I guess that’s true,” Jack replied.  
“Jack, I’m really sorry about earlier,” Alex said, sounding guilty.  
“I appreciate the apology, but it’s all okay now. Thank you for giving up your night to be here, watching Home Alone with me, it really means a lot. You really are the best, and I’m glad you’re my bandmate and best friend. I wouldn’t want to be this miserable with anyone else,” Jack said, making Alex smile,  
“Thanks, Jack,” Alex replied. Jack opened his mouth to say something but broke into a painful sounding coughing fit instead. Alex rubbed his back until he was okay again.   
“That sounded painful. Wy don’t we watch the movie, and you just rest and try to sleep. That’ll help you get better faster,” Alex suggested.  
“Sounds good. Thanks, man,” Jack said in a raspy voice.  
“No problem, dude,” Alex said. They watched the movie, and Jack fell asleep about twenty minutes into it. Alex ended up falling asleep with Jack. He took care of Jack until he was well again, a few days later. Jack felt very lucky to have a best friend that cared about him so much and knew how to make any situation better.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I wrote this up a couple of weeks ago, and I hope you all liked it! I keep having story ideas faster than I can write them, so hopefully I'll get a lot posted here in the near future! Thank you for reading, lots of love, Liv.


End file.
